For Want
by Flitty
Summary: ...Of a nail. What if Valerie left before Dani at the end of D-Stabilised? Danny pulls Danielle under his wing! Will their secret get out now that a messy-haired, twelve year old girl has joined both sides of him? Danny/Dani-Father/Daughter, D/S.
1. Science Class

**I don't own Danny Phantom, or any songs I will use in this Fic, unless I state otherwise**

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><p>"ARRRGGGHHHH!"<p>

Yeah, I should probably explain this from the start.

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><p>Dani turned around, ready to zoom off into the night once more now that she had been stabilised. With a quick "See you soon, cousin," and a wistful glance back at me, my sort-of clone turned towards the closed window.<p>

I still don't know what made me pull her back, but suddenly Dani was sobbing into my shoulder, and I knew she couldn't carry on alone on the streets. I took a deep breath, rested my chin lightly on her shoulder and hugged her back, whispering gently in her ear, "Want to come with me this time?"

That fateful question changed both our lives, and we knew that perfectly well. That was the day that we had family.

Sure, I had Jazz, Mom and Dad, but I had drifted away from the latter two, and I treated the former as any other friend, rather than the big sister that I knew she should be.

"A cousin." My own voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I suddenly realised that Dani had stopped crying, instead staring up at me in confusion. I didn't blame her; _I_ would have stared at me in confusion, too, had that been physically possible. Where did that even come from?

Dani didn't feel like a cousin. They always seemed distant to me, but I felt something far closer to the currently white-haired girl. Like... A big brother? That didn't fit, but it felt closer to actuality than my previous guess. "I think you might be something more," I told her, grinning widely despite my poor perplexed mind, and she countered with a rib-crushing hug.

"Thanks, Danny," she whispered, breaking away, and I prodded her on the side.

"No more flying around on the streets for you, Missy! I want you somewhere you won't have to steal your own food this time." And with that, we flew through the window together, heading for my bedroom in Fenton Works.

It was late at night by the time we got back, and I discreetly phased my Dad through the glass box he was trapped inside. It took a while to disable the anti-ghost defences, but I managed it eventually by pushing the off button located underneath a desk.

The moment I pulled the man through the glass, he whipped out a ghost-bazooka from who knows where, pointing it around and hoping to locate my invisible self. "Show yourself, mani-whatever of ecto-stuff and post-human things!"

That immediately struck me as odd. My Dad may have been a little scatter-brained, but he wasn't stupid, especially when it came to ghosts. "It's called a mani-"

I didn't finish my sentence as Dad swished the death-ray to face me, guided by my voice, and pulled the trigger. All I remember was a burning sensation somewhere in my chest, before someone grabbed me under the armpits and dragged me away from the half-sane hunter.

That sneaky bastard.

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><p>Everything was black. That usually meant I had my eyes closed, so I tried to open them, but my eyelids felt like trucks were sitting on them.<p>

Then the pain started.

"ARRRGGGHHHH!"

Being electrocuted is one of my worst fears. Can you blame me when half of my death was caused by an unholy voltage with a side of ectoplasm and pain? No, you really can't. I shot out of bed, cautiously ready to fight whatever monstrosity had come for me this time, and I barely noticed a wire or something coming off my arm, and a clattering in front of me.

I glanced around. I was facing my bed from the left hand side, and what had just made the racket turned out to be a series of bags, hanging on a rack of some kind. My chest hurt immensely, and I remembered the events of the past day. Brilliant.

Looking to my left, I took note of my cousin/sister/something standing stock still, before rushing forwards and jumping into my already painful torso. I bit back a hiss and hugged her back, barely noting the yelled complaints from the doctor at our behaviour. She was trembling and crying, obviously having thought I was gone. Suddenly my legs felt rather unsupportive as I realised just how close I was to losing everything, and I sat back down on the bed, pulling Danielle closer and wrapping my arms tighter around her back.

Eventually, we properly registered the half-panicked cries of the doctor, and I lay back on the bed to rest. The tubes weren't reattached as I could eat normally, but those strange circles for the heart monitor were stuck onto my back, as my front was damaged.

After a few seconds, the doctor pulled out the defibrillator, and I cringed back, even as I saw the feed on the monitor.

'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...'

My heart skipped a beat (or maybe thirty) as I realised what that sound meant, and what a defibrillator did in the first place. I pulled away from the dreaded machine, wincing as I pulled the monitor along, and scooted out of the doctor's reach.

"Please, sir, your heart has stopped, we need to restart it!"

Yeah, stopped. Just like my breathing stopped. The portal accident changed more than just giving me a new form, and right now, it's making it nearly impossible to keep my secret safe.

Dani leapt up onto my bed, embracing me once more, and everything changed. Again.

'Beep! Beep! Beep!'

Yes, that was the monitor. Yes, I could hear the doctor spluttering.

Yes, my heart was beating.

I stared wide-eyed at the monitor, even as I felt something that I should never again have felt in my chest. My heart was beating, I was breathing and my body was filled with the warmth of my blood.

"Doctor, please get another monitor and attach it to Danielle." It took all my tenacity to say that through my relief and absolute shock, not to mention through Dani's unbrushed raven hair. The doctor nodded and left, wheeling in another machine a minute later.

Hooking the new monitor up to my clone, the doctor scratched his head at the results while i just stared blankly at them.

We had the same heartbeat.

_Exactly_ the same.

Dani let go of me in her shock, slipping off the bed and onto the floor. We watched in awe as both monitors flatlined.

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><p>An experimental poke or thirty later, we found that our hearts only beat when we were touching, be it cuddling, poking, or high-fiving. The doctor was a nervous wreck by now, attempting to call in reinforcements without sounding too panicked. He was failing miserably.<p>

I refused time and again to tell doctor Steven Brown my own and Dani's full names, understanding that having no record of visits for a year, combined with my apparent relation to her and our infamous surname, would potentially reveal our secret to the world through some insane case of cause-and-effect.

After around thirty baffled doctors had their way with us, we were asked about any possible accidents involving ghosts or ectoplasm. I told them of a malfunctioning Fenton Works ecto-rifle almost a year back, and they accepted that, announcing the 'stunning' news that we could survive without a heartbeat.

Because I didn't figure that out a year ago.

I told the doctor that I didn't want my parents to know, hence my refusal to give surnames, and they surprisingly dropped the subject with sympathetic speeches and logic-based conclusions.

We were let out of the hospital later that day, instructed to return under the names Danny and Danielle EB12 (Ecto-Blaster, cases 1 and 2) in the case of another injury. Apparently they had collected enough information to guess how most of my body worked, but were stuck on how our hearts beat when we touched.

I still couldn't go for fight-inflicted injuries, especially when Phantom was recorded almost 24/7, but I could at least go if Dani was hurt. That took a tonne off my mind as we walked sluggishly home, bandage covered with a new stock tshirt. Mom and Dad wouldn't miss me, probably still looking for the ghost, but as it was sunday, I'd need the rest for school tomorrow.

As I was still weak, Dani flew us to my room, phasing through the window, and we landed lightly on the bed. I was glad that my parents never came to check on me, or they would have seen me, heavily bandaged, sleeping with a twelve-year-old girl. I had no idea how I'd explain _that_ to them.

Just what was Dani to me, anyway? Not my sister, not my cousin, not just my friend... But what?

As I listened to our heartbeat and revelled in the warmth of our blood, I dropped off to sleep, still pondering that question in my subconscious.

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><p>For the first time in my life, I woke up earlier than necessary. I untangled myself from Dani's tiny form and got up from my bed. At least, I would have done, but she had both arms over my shoulders, gripping each other behind me, and both legs grappling my waist like her life depended on it.<p>

I eventually decided to just make her invisible, then crept down to the kitchen. Glancing at the clock, I noted that it was five o'clock; my parents and Jazz wouldn't be down for an hour. I set to work, cooking my own breakfast for the first time ever, along with Dani's. It turned out to be fun, and a nice way to just relax.

The breakfast was done in a heartbeat (or a few thousand), and I sat down to eat my home-cooked bacon, beans and ecto-eggs. The latter had never been edible, a failed experiment of Mom's from when she tried to create 'good' ghosts to combat the 'evil' ones, but I felt up to the challenge and if I do say so myself, they turned out well.

Danielle eventually awoke, and blushed as she realised I was eating over her shoulder thanks to her grip. She jumped down to the floor and took another seat, and I pushed her smaller plate of food over to her, gesturing at the knife and fork. She picked them up shyly, having obviously never had a decent meal before, and I internally growled at my stupidity of letting her leave before. Eventually she took a bite of bacon, and before I could ask how it was, it had vanished.

"Thank you so much, Danny! It was the best meal I ever had!" I wanted to grumble about it being the only meal she'd ever had, but that wasn't the time so I just wrote her off.

"I haven't ever cooked before, so I don't think it's brilliant..." I leapt up, face burning from the praise, and placed my empty plate in the sink. Dani followed suit, but I noticed that her plate had been licked clean. Face an even brighter red now, I turned to the counter, weaving the bacon into a checkerboard pattern, sprinkling a little salt on the beans and putting the eggs on the heat for my sister and parents.

I quickly told Dani to stay invisible while my parents were there, before the boom of a door being kicked open all but forced me to look away.

Dad was pointing a gun at me, convinced that an un-overshadowed Danny would never wake so early without prompting. Thankfully, Jazz marched in at that point, tearing the Fenton ecto-pistol from his grip and slamming it on the table. It was then that they noticed the food.

Jazz reacted first, cautiously picking a fork up and prodding the egg on her plate. I didn't blame her; those things were vicious when Mom cooked them the last time. When it failed to do anything than bleed yellow from the pale green egg 'white', she grabbed a piece of buttered toast from the centre and dipped it in the runny centre.

And so it was made known that I was a brilliant chef. Because apparently cooking a good English breakfast is a recipe for greatness, I don't know. I guess doing it without instructions was an achievement, but a cause for celebration?

Then I heard Jazz's muttering about rivalling the top chefs, and I nearly had a heart attack (not that it'd have any effect). Jazz knew I didn't like praise, so would it kill her to say it in her head? I shot back up the stairs, dragging an invisible Dani with me, my face rivalling most tomatoes in colour by now.

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><p>Getting ready for school was strange, to say the least. Dani and I transformed as soon as we closed my door, heading off for the nearest clothing store. I didn't really feel like wearing my usual white, orange and blue, and Dani didn't have any spare clothes whatsoever.<p>

After half an hour, we left the store, headed back to my room and got changed one at a time. I wore a green hooded jacket and trainers, blue jeans and a pale green scarf over a black tee. Dani wore a blue knee-length skirt, green hoodie and trainers. On our heads were matching red beanies.

We met up with Tucker and Sam, who gaped at my clothes and the twelve year old girl riding my shoulders, before I eventually managed to explain. "Danielle came back, we went to the store and I decided that my clothes were getting too small. Mom and Dad don't know, and I don't want them to know, in case Phantom happens to show up with a girl almost identical to her and they figure it out."

"But-"

"It's not like my parents will think to buy me anything, they'd just give me some money to go myself," I countered Sam. "Otherwise, I'd be walking in a ghost-proof purple jumpsuit." That shut them up, and we carried on towards school, Dani grabbing around my neck for her half-life as I picked up the pace. "Come on, I don't want to meet Skulker or someone."

When we got to school, I took Dani to the Principal, explain that she was my cousin, twelve years old and had come to live with us, and she got into a class far too easily for my taste. Anyone could just waltz in and join a class. Anyway, I took Danielle to her class, glad that it was so early in the school year, and saw her off with a small warning to tell me about any and all bullying, even just name calling, and to not let anyone know about her powers.

Most of school passed in a flash, and with an actual reason for being late, I didn't even get a detention from Lancer. I learned more about JK Rowling's books than I had about any other, what with the ghosts conveniently not showing during English for once, and I vowed to actually read those seven Harry Potter ones that were so famous; from what I heard the boy had so many of the same problems as me that it was ridiculous. It actually changed my perspective a bit; at least I could throw all my fame onto my alter-ego.

The last class was taught by Lancer too, as our science teacher had taken a sick day for the first time in years. I was betting she had some sort of terminal illness, remembering that time she came to school in an electric wheelchair, wincing whenever she so much as breathed until she was forced home by half the staff in the building. It had gotten so bad that it was rumoured that the Principal had set her phone number to redirect to the nearest hospital whenever she called in sick.

My (stopped) heart dropped like an upside-down rocket as Lancer gave us a practical for biology- recording our heart-rate, breathing-rate, temperature and ectoplasmic strength in order to test how close to a ghost we were. Apparently, there was a measure for these things: for a ghost, heart-rate was 0, breathing-rate was also 0, temperature was 10 degrees C below room-temperature and ecto-strength was 1-10, depending one the ghost's power. The box ghost was a 1.2 in the latter, while Pariah Dark was a perfect 10 before we sealed him up.

I pondered my excuses for heart-rate, breath rate and ecto-strength, eventually deciding to take a leaf out of past-me's book and blame it on a malfunctioning blaster, along with living around ghosts all my life. Sam and Tuck glanced nervously towards me, but my thumbs-up placated them enough to turn back to Lancer's lecture on safety.

Eventually we came to the pairings. We were split up for obvious reasons, and I groaned unnoticeably as my name came up with Valerie's. It would probably be impossible to convince her that I wasn't a ghost, but I just hoped she wouldn't have any sort of weapon to only harm ghosts or something. If she did, I'd blame that on my previous excuse. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, after all.

I measured Valerie first, and her heart-rate turned out to be an even 60 beats per minute. Her breathing rate was 10 per minute, and her temperature was a perfect 37 degrees. Finally, we came to the ecto-strength monitor, essentially just a green wristwatch that beeps three times when it has measured you properly.

"0.5? This thing must be faulty! I'm nowhere near that!" I wasn't surprised at Valerie's outburst; the average rating for a human was 0.05, after all, and some didn't even get a reading. 0.5 was almost enough to turn intangible.

I gulped inaudibly as Valerie put her index and middle fingers on the inside of my wrist, waiting for her to declare me a ghost and whip out a plasma rifle. I tried to console myself that doing that would reveal herself and she didn't want that, but I didn't know what she'd do to kill a ghost.

Valerie had raised her hand sometime during my mental argument, and Lancer was over in a flash. "What seems to be the problem, miss Grey?"

"Danny doesn't have a pulse," she replied, and Lancer frowned, pulling out a stethoscope from nowhere.

He placed it on my chest, only to frown deeper and ask, "could you remove your shirt, please, Mr Fenton?" My eyes widened at that. I couldn't! Not with the scars and the bandages from the Ecto-bazooka incident. It would somehow give away my secret, Dani and I would be hunted by the Guys in White, Mom and Dad would either break down after realising that they had shot at their own son, or pull me and Dani into the lab, and ghost would roam the now-doomed earth.

Sure, it was a bit over the top and unlikely to actually happen, but better safe than sorry, and the fame alone would be enough to make me want to keep our secret. So I shook my head slowly, eyes wide like a child who had been caught with hands in the cookie jar, and Mr Lancer sighed. "Fine, but do you mind telling us why?"

I stuck to my excuse, hoping beyond all hope that they just wrote off my heartbeat as too faint to note. "I had an accident with a broken Fenton ecto-bazooka, tried to fire it and it exploded. The injury's pretty bad, the doctors told me not to touch my bandages until the after-effects wear off."

They seemed to buy my poor excuse of an explanation, and we moved on to breath rate. This would be easy to pass; all I had to do was breath like a normal person. How much did a normal person breath? How long was a minute? How long should I breath in, and how long out?

Breathing was harder than I thought, but I managed to pass with a slightly erratic 10 breaths per minute, and my temperature was easily passed off as another side-effect of the blaster, but a 5 degrees C, even colder than most ghosts. My excuse was holding better than my many 'toilet breaks', much that wasn't saying much if I'm honest.

Then we came to the ecto-strength test. Lancer was still behind me, overseeing things as we were the only pair having trouble. I strapped on the watch, which conveniently matched my jacket, and waited, fear gripping my throat. I knew that I was high on the scale by now, having captured Skulker, a 3, many times by now, and I knew I couldn't pass this off as a side effect from the blaster. Maybe living near a ghost portal would sound plausible, but...

Screw it. That was the only option I'd have, so I'd take it.

'Beep. Beep. Beep.'

I chanced a look down, and almost fell off my seat in pure shock. 1.04? I was weaker than the box ghost! Surely that wasn't right; I could use ecto-blasts, and they needed a 2.5!

I looked down again and sighed when I saw the same number. My power _was_ limited in my human form, but really? It wasn't possible. I could use ecto-blasts, which needed a 1.5, even in my human form! Maybe the blast from that gun Dad had used had locked my powers away. I tried to charge an ecto-blast under the table, only to ditch my theory when it worked.

So what could have happened?

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><p><strong>Not much to say here.<strong>

**Until next time!**


	2. I'll think of you

**I don't own Danny Phantom or any of the music I use in this Fic.**

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><p>Tucker and Sam left school without me that day, as I went to pick up Danielle from her final lesson. She was instantly on my shoulders, waving to a new friend or two from her perch as we came to the gates.<p>

"So how was school today, Dani?" I asked, genuinely curious, and that nagging feeling returned. It was like Dani and I were missing something that would be obvious to anyone hearing our conversation, and I just knew I would be kicking myself once I figured it out.

"Some parts were boring, like English..." She stuck out her tongue and I chuckled, remembering Lancer's lectures about Of Mice and Men. "Sport was fun, though, I won all the games!"

"No ghost powers?" I asked, but I already knew the answer from how proud she sounded.

"No ghost powers," she confirmed, and I reached up to ruffle her hair, finally understanding why my Dad liked to torture me so much with the act. "Hey, quit it!" Apparently Dani didn't, though, and I laughed as she returned the favour, working around my beanie.

"Well, you want to go to the park before we head home?"

I had never been to the park. My parents were too busy with ghost hunting, Jazz had to keep them in check, and I wasn't allowed to go alone until I was at the age when I would be mocked for it. I sure was sure as hell going to give Dani a childhood, especially since she started twelve years late.

Speaking of Dani, she immediately jumped at the chance to go to the park with her... whatever I was to her. She yelled and affirmative and I turned right, heading for the mysterious wonderland that neither of us had ever set foot in.

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><p>"Higher!"<p>

I groaned under my breath as the chest injury burned, exhausted from pushing the gigantic basket swing with Dani on top. "I can't, you have to remember that flying doesn't give you arm and leg muscles any quicker than just lying in bed."

That was the truth, but it wasn't related to why I couldn't push her. Fighting for an entire year will give you muscles, even if you do fly everywhere, but I didn't want to remind Dani of my chest injury. She had forgotten it already, and I was incredibly glad that she didn't find some way to feel responsible, like I usually did.

I took a run up as the basket reached the bottom of its swing and leapt in, not even caring about the hissing pain from my wound as I hit my head on the edge of the basket and got carpet burned on my palms. Dani squealed with delight as I pulled her into a one-armed hug and we swung, not a care in the world.

BOOM.

I sat up instantly as the ground exploded, not a foot away from the swing. People turned towards the flying wreckage, which looked remarkably like an erupting geyser, as a metallic flaming head ominously rose from the hole, grinning maliciously.

"My tracking device must be a little off, whelp," he taunted me, "but I will have your pelt at the foot of my bed soon."

I almost went ghost then and there, but Dani nudged me and pointed towards a group of people. I took note of Dash, Kwan, Paulina, Star and Valerie among the group, and saw that the latter had pulled out a blaster disguised as lipstick.

Knowing that I giving away my secret would put Dani in danger from other ghosts and the Guys in White, it didn't take a rocket scientist to tell me that transforming wouldn't be an option, so I jumped off the still swinging basket, the momentum throwing me feet from Dani.

That was a mistake, and I cursed my stupidity as Skulker pointed an arm at my... sister? A gun barrel erupted from the top of the robot's arm and began to glow an electric blue.

Electric?

Before I could stop myself, not that I would have done if I could, I was spread-eagled in front of Danielle, bracing for the pain of the century as a white flash brought with it an onslaught of thunder.

I don't know how long I was there, screaming until my throat bled, but I did know that I couldn't stay there. The jolts of electricity were sending me closer to Dani, and the swing had stopped by now. I would never have lived with myself if Danielle had to live through this pain. I'd only felt it once before, and I had vowed to never let anyone feel the same again.

My closed eyes glowed an eerie green as I stood tall against the constant lightning strike, my body arching backward and my mouth open in a silent shriek.

All around me, I heard gasps as I lifted one foot off the ground, and took a single step forward, fueled by the cherished girl behind me, the chance to protect her with my life.

"Da-" I didn't hear any more of Dani's cry. I didn't need to, to know what she had called me.

"Don't you dare..."

I raised a fist behind me, feeling it erupt into blood and smelling burnt flesh all over me.

"Touch..."

I stepped forward again, opening my eyes for the first time since the torture began, and the glow emanating from them settled into a dazzling white. Several people turned away in horror as Skulker raised a fist, mirroring my own.

"My daughter."

Calm descended on my mind as I pushed my fist forward, meeting Skulker's own. I watched as his eyes widened, as his head tilted reflexively away from me, as his arm was pushed into his chest, as I punched a hole through his fist and torso. I watched as the metal glowed white-hot, as my hand burst from his back, and as the debris was flung into a nearby tree, slicing it in half.

I didn't notice that the lightning has stopped, instead pulling off the head and yanking out the green, frog-like true form of Skulker. I took out a Fenton thermos from my bag and sucked him into it, then walked sluggishly over to the basket swing.

"Come on," I told my shivering girl as I lifted her onto my bloody shoulders, ignoring the screams of pain, "let's go home."

I finally knew what Danielle was to me.

A daughter.

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><p>Dani phased us into my room once again, and I collapsed onto my bed for a breather. I couldn't stay there for long, though; I needed Tucker and Sam to clean me up.<p>

Actually...

I had fought Skulker in human form, and it would probably be all over the news. I could take Sam and Tucker to the hospital, where we would actually get specialist help, coupled with my friends' extensive knowledge of my biology from the other times they had to patch me up.

I told Dani to stay in my room as I went to get a shower. Looking at the mirror, I noted in relief that my face wasn't burnt. I Danny Phantom showed up with the same burns and Danny Fenton, it would probably cause a riot or something, after all.

I hissed as the cool water made contact with my skin, and the grease from my hair and face invaded my wounds. I managed to mostly clean myself, leaving just a patch on my back that I had Dani help me with.

Injuries no longer bleeding, I carefully tiptoed to my room, a towel round my waist, and slapped on an old orange and white tee with blue jeans. It hurt too much to dry me, so the tee was already transparent, showing my scarred six-pack. Seeing this, I threw on a spare jacket, wincing as the tiny weight pressed further on the red patterns tattooing my body.

At least I had a reasonable excuse for most of my injuries if anyone saw them. Always good to see the silver lining in every thunderstorm.

Creeping downstairs, using my slippers for extra stealth, Dani and I made it to the phone, and I dialled Sam's number. She picked up instantly, and a bang told me she had slammed her mobile into the side of her head in her haste to talk.

"Danny! Get over here so I can fix you! Why did you call Dani your daughter? Why were you fighting as a human? You were on the news! Never mind, just come quickly!"

"Sam," I interrupted, and she fell silent instantly. I took a deep breath, waiting for some sort of outburst, and launched into my explanation. "I can go to the hospital anonymously, but I'll still need you and Tuck there since they don't know everything about my condition. I called Dani my daughter because I'm her adopted father, or at least will be when I figure out how that sort of stuff works. Long story. Everyone could see me but I needed to protect Dani, so I fought Skulker as a human. I did guess I'd be on the news, ask Tuck to interfere with the broadcast to Fenton Works. Call Jazz and Tuck and meet us both outside Fenton Works, I can't fly."

I waited a few seconds for my girlfriend to absorb this information, but she got over it fairly quickly, muttering a quick "Okay," before hanging up.

'Beep. Beep. Beep.'

I turned down to the watch on my wrist, having apparently forgotten to remove it at the end of class. Oops.

Wait, what?

The number was still a measly 1.04, but I noticed a minuscule digit to the right, which hadn't been there before. Wait, it wasn't a digit, it was a letter.

E.

What would that mean? In science, I think it meant energy or the speed of light, maybe, but that wouldn't fit. This looked like a calculator or something, what did calculators use the letter E for?

Oh, lord.

Error.

As in, 'the value measured exceeds the maximum value we can show' kind of error. 1.04E... Would be... 10.4?

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><p>It was a subdued me and Dani that met up with my friends. Dani was terrified that something bad might happen to her new daddy... Honestly, how didn't I see the signs before? I just <em>knew<em> I'd be kicking myself when I figured it out.

I was still in shock. 10.4? That was off the charts. That was stronger than Pariah Dark, the madman with supposedly infinite power.

That was utterly ridiculous.

I pushed it out of my mind for the time being, only to cringe as I latched onto the only other thing I could think of.

Everything HURT! It was worse than the portal incident, but better at the same time; at least Danielle hadn't taken that pain.

"Danny," Tucker half-yelled, having just disabled the televisions in the Fenton household for the time being. "We need directions to that hospital."

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><p>Once again, the doctors rushed around me in a frenzy. They couldn't do anything other than rubbing ointment all over me, sticking me in a bed and asking me to rest. Tuck and Sam lay on my right, wary of my injuries, while Dani curled up against me, tears falling silently from her eyes.<p>

"I-I'm sorry I didn't help you, Daddy... I can't do anything right!"

I pulled her closer, forcing myself to keep an even voice, not wince, and generally act like nothing was happening. Our heart beat came up to 100 bpm and the doctors panicked, but I waved them away, and they seemed to remember that whole thing about our bodies not usually functioning in the first place.

"Danielle Fenton," I whispered, and she smiled in spite of herself at the surname. "I am your father, and believe me when I say that you are the most brilliant part of my life, and always will be. I've made mistakes, and I know how scary it is when your mistakes hurt someone close to you. You didn't make a mistake back in the park, so stop thinking that you did and cheer up already!"

No, I'm not perfect at speeches, but Dani seemed to calm down as I pulled her onto my chest, where she curled up. Sam draped the covers over us both and dragged Tuck out the room with her, promising to be back in the morning.

The heart rate monitor slowed and became the only source of noise in the room, until Dani asked me something.

"Daddy, I know that it's silly, but can you sing a song please?"

Anyone walking by in the next hour would hear a teenager singing a soft lullaby to his sweet daughter.

_"I'll think of you as I go_

_So when I leave, you're not alone_

_And no matter where we are, we will never be that far_

_'Cause I will think of you as I go_

_I'll think of you as I dream_

_So when it's dark, you'll be with me._

_And no matter where we are, we can look up to the stars._

_And I will think of you as I dream."_

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><p><strong>And that's all she wrote!<strong>

**I don't think this chapter turned out perfect, far from it, but I like it, and I think I'm getting better at family interactions.**

**I still suck at fight scenes, though. Lord, that was terrible.**

**Until next time!**


	3. Scars and School

**I own no characters, locations or brands in this chapter.**

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><p>I woke up to the sound of my heartbeat, and a warm weight on my chest. It was nice, just lying there for once, knowing that my stillness was all that kept the tiny girl on me asleep. It helped me relax, and that had been what I really needed for a long time, at that point.<p>

After an hour of absently playing with Dani's hair, she finally stirred and swatted my hand away, sitting up blindly for a second before slumping back onto me, pulling the covers with her.

It only took another half-hour's wait for Dani to wake up fully, rubbing her eyes adorably with balled up hands and yawning widely. I almost squealed at that, but squashed the reaction down to conserve my little remaining manliness.

"Daddy, what's the time?" she asked, and I glanced over to an analog clock hanging on the wall to our left.

"Time to get ready for school, Heart."

She pouted cutely and I had to wrestle my self-control back into place before it ran away screaming. "Can't we just- wait, did you call me Heart?"

I chuckled and pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head as I answered. "I need some sort of nickname for you, all parents do! Or would you rather I called you sweetie whenever I saw you in public like your grandma does?"

It was weird thinking of my Mom as a grandmother, especially as I had no plans to tell her of that fact until it was entirely necessary. Which would be soon, if news spread as quickly as I knew it would.

* * *

><p>Dani and I got dressed, and she freaked out when she saw that extent of my new scars, half-complete apologies pouring from her mouth. It took me almost an hour of careful wording and hugs to calm her down enough that she wasn't at risk of hyperventilating.<p>

I looked down at my bare chest in interest, and a small amount of pride that I'd gotten these protecting my daughter. Above my heart was a perfect circle of raised, raw skin, with a web of lines spiking out of the point. The patterns, understandably shaped like those caused by lightning strikes, wrapped around my torso and arms, fading away as they crawled over the backs of my hands.

Luckily, nothing especially important had been damaged. My heart had been destroyed, but Dani's beat for me when we made contact, so all was fine. I'd just need to never lose my ghost powers again.

For some odd reason, my head hadn't taken any sort of scarring, so Danny Phantom's secret would stay veiled. Thank God for that; Dani Phantom would be enough of a target even if she wasn't exposed as half-human. I could have sworn that I felt a cut on my cheek though. I'd just have to check that out at some point.

* * *

><p>The first thing I noticed when I walked out the hospital in my new outfit (gifted to me by the shop I had originally bought it from when they saw the news), Dani on my shoulders like usual, were the stares. I was used to those as Phantom, but now my human half was famous too. Brilliant, I'd never get a peaceful day again.<p>

People seemed to shy away from us like I was some sort of monster. Which I was, I reminded myself, tilting my head in thought as a path seemed to magically appear in front of us. I sighed in defeat, accepting my fate as I trudged towards the hellhole known as Casper High.

As we entered the gates, Dani fidgeted on my shoulders under the gaze of half the school, and I sighed, taking it in stride when the many students interpreted my impatience and once more opened a way for us to go.

Of course, that way was blocked by a certain blonde-haired jock.

"Hey, Fenturd! Shouldn't you be on the floor right now? Who's the little kid? Is that your sister? Bet she's just as-"

My eyes momentarily flashed a murderous green. Nobody insulted my daughter. "Finish that sentence and you will feel worse pain than I ever have."

"Why, you little..." Trailing into mutters, Dash pulled back a fist and committed an act of incredible stupidity.

He aimed for Dani.

In an instant I caught the fist, inches from my Heart, who hadn't so much as flinched at the incoming projectile, and brought it down on a raised knee. With four sickening cracks, the bully yelled in agony as his fingers bent in ways that weren't often possible.

I reached a hand around Mount Moron to rest on his back and pulled, and he fell like a domino over my outstretched leg. "Don't touch my daughter," I spat as his nose made contact with the pavement, and we continued on as if nothing had happened, gasps and murmurs trailing in our wake.

* * *

><p>Having dropped Dani off and met up with a whooping Tucker and a relieved Sam, the three of us made our way to our first class: English.<p>

"Daniel Fenton?"

"Here, Sir."

Lancer, who had paused to take a swig of coffee, performed the most elegant impersonation of the fountain outside the window as he registered my voice. I snickered, perhaps a little louder than I should have, as the poor man looked at me like he'd seen a ghost.

Oops, bad analogy.

"Mr Fenton, after what I saw on the news yesterday, may I ask WHY it is that you snuck out of hospital, where I am sure you stayed the night, to come to a class that you are unfailingly late to? On time, might I add?"

I shrugged with my right shoulder, wincing slightly as the left one inexplicably failed to move. Lancer noticed and raised an eyebrow, to which I sighed. "I had to drop Dani off, so I can't afford to be late or off school anymore. Besides, I had a feeling that you'd call up every hospital in the town, if only to know where to find me so you can kill me in my sleep."

Most of the class chuckled nervously, the A-list sounding closer to hysteria than anything else. It was understandable; they had dismissed team Phantom as lesser beings before the news yesterday had proved otherwise. And that reminded me of something else.

"What exactly did the news say, anyway?"

Even Lancer shifted uncomfortably at this question, but he shook himself and answered. "That a flaming robot ghost burst out of the ground in a local park and turned a gun on a young girl, and that you were electrocuted, but punched a hole straight THROUGH the ghost's armour, which was made from ectoplasm-infused titanium, and that you called the girl your daughter."

Lancer seemed calm at the final few words, but I could tell that both he and the class had gone into shock. Danny Fenton had a baby girl?

The girls were probably trying to guess the mother, and a few whispered conversations convinced me that everyone seemed to think it was Sam. I glanced over at the goth girl and was amused at the faint blush on her cheeks.

Lancer finally spoke up again, and I didn't know whether to be glad at the distraction or dread the inevitable question. "How is it that you have a twelve year old daughter when you yourself are only fourteen?"

I sighed, hoping that Lancer wouldn't see fit to call my parents about Dani. "I adopted her unofficially. She appeared out of nowhere and called me Daddy. She didn't have any parents before me so I took her in."

Technically, that was entirely the truth. I did adopt her, she did appear out of nowhere (a few months ago, but still the truth), she did call me Daddy, and she didn't have any parents before me. The fact that none of those statements had any relations to each other wasn't my problem.

Lancer's brow creased as he scrutinised me, before letting out a breath and falling back into his seat. "Very well, Mr Fenton. See me after school, and don't think I won't check this with your parents."

I repressed the urge to gulp loudly, bang my head against the wall and run off screaming bloody murder, opting instead to nod resolutely and smile pleasantly (actually more of a grimace, but nobody needed to know that small detail).

* * *

><p>School passed in a whirl of boredom and scared glances, and I was really rather glad to be sitting in Lancer's classroom once more, having asked Tucker to pick my Heart up from her classes.<p>

My long suffering teacher gave me a harsh look, and suddenly I'd rather still have been in biology with Mrs Yeoman. He lowered himself into his comfy chair and placed his hands on the table, then levelled me with another look.

"Daniel," he started, and I cringed at the full name. "You are incredibly lucky that I didn't see fit to outright tell your parents about Danielle." His voice softened slightly as he continued. "Of course, I asked them about any family members living with them other than Jasmine and yourself, but they didn't seem to know anything about this. I won't pry if you really don't want me to, but I am giving you a chance to explain any problems, or... issues that you would like me to know of. I am proud of you as my student to have taken Danielle in, but I would like to hear your own reasoning for not telling your parents."

I hesitated to tell my longest standing teacher, who'd taught my English even at my primary school, but in the end I couldn't fight the feeling that he could help, and i gave in after a year of hiding my secret. "Everything said in this room is kept silent, okay?"

Lancer considered, before nodding. "Unless it is life-threatening, my lips are sealed."

So I told him. All about the portal, about becoming a halfa, my accidental powers, my first battle, choosing to become a superhero, the lot. He interrupted me halfway through a rant about Technus and the Box Ghost.

"And where does Danielle fit into this, Daniel? I can't help but notice that you haven't once mentioned her in all this."

I blushed lightly and nodded. "I was getting to that. My arch-enemy, a halfa called Vlad Plasmius, decided to kidnap me and perform a bunch of highly illegal experiments, mostly involving failed attempts to _duplicate_ me and get that 'perfect son' that he always wanted me to be. Long story short, he slipped up and revealed that he didn't truly love Dani, and she helped me out of the place, becoming the only surviving experiment. She flew off dramatically into the distance, and I didn't see her until a few days ago."

It was at that point that Lancer made a mistake. It was an honest mistake, and he couldn't have known it was one in the first place, but it really hurt me. "So Danielle is a failed attempt to clone you, then?"

The temperature in the room fell to uncomfortable levels as I glowered at the insensitive jerk in front of me. "No," I corrected him coldly, a thin layer of ice coating my body as I stared him in the eye. "She's a successful attempt to prove that miracles exist." I stood and marched to the door before he could so much as protest, and I turned to face him before phasing through the door. "We're done here."

* * *

><p><strong>I never actually intended for Lancer to upset Danny, but I like how this turned out. In my opinion, I handled the reveal fairly nicely.<strong>

**Peace out.**


End file.
